CANVA&S-BACK DUCK. 
223 
river, at a place called Herring 
one severe winter, he anij 
Ho lives near James’ ..r 
‘eek, informs me, that, 
p®thc r person broke a bole iu the iee about twenty by 
“fty feet, immediately over a shoal of grass, and took 
stand on the shore in a hut of brush, each having 
‘tee loaded with large shot. The ducks. 
Inch were flying up and down the river in great 
^^treniity, soon crowded to this ])lace, so that the whole 
space was not only covered with them, but vast 
•iiuhers stood on the ice around it. They had three 
guilds, flring both at once, and picked up eighty-eight 
r>tvass-backs, and might have collected more had they 
able to get to the extremity of the ice after the 
"''‘Unded ones. In the severe winter of ) 779-80, the 
^'■••ss, on the roots of ivhich tliese birds feed, ivas almost 
j'lolljr destroyed iu James’ river. In tlie mouth of 
^'Uiary, the wind continued to blow from W.N.W. for 
j'euty-one days, which rinsed such low tides in the 
^'’er, that the grass froze to the ice every where, and 
y^llaw coming on suddenly, the whole was raised by 
roots and carried oft' by tiic fresh. The next winter 
kw of these ducks n ere seen, but they soon went 
^Hy again ; .and,, for many years after, they continued 
' lie scarce ; and even to the present day, in the 
iP'iiioa yf jjiy informant, have never been so plenty as 
llie canvass-back, in the rich juicy tenderness of its 
and its delicacy of rtavoui-, stands unrivalled by the 
of its tribe in this or perhaps any other quarter 
p. tile world. Those killed in the waters of the 
j k’iapeake are generally esteemed superior to all others, 
j. bbtless from the great abundance of their favourite 
1 ^d which these rivers produce. At our public dinners, 
and particular entertainments, the canvass-backs 
dit .'*.'‘i''ersal favourites. They uot only grace but 
i^“'.ly the table, and their very name conveys to the 
^“‘JSiuation of the eager epicure the most comfortable 
o exhilarating ideas. Hence, on snch occasions, it 
dni I’®®** uncommon to pay from one to three 
Urn's a-pair for these ducks ; and, indeed, at such times. 
